By Neil Cohen
While writing Echo's look at the film industry in Arizona, I had the opportunity to interview MC (Cait) Brennan, whose screenplay The People's Choice won great acclaim at the Arizona Film Commission/Arizona Commission on the Arts "Film In Arizona" Contest. Here's the "extra reel" story!Echo: Thanks for being available for the interview. After the sobering news from the Arizona Film Commission, I need something upbeat!
Cait Brennan: I'm happy to help. Let me just briefly tell you a little about my background.
I'm an Arizona native ... grew up here, though I spent most of my twenties in San Francisco and Seattle. Although I've written a variety of material and dabbled in journalism, most of my published writing has been humor/satire stuff. I was a co-founder of the
Loon News, a popular underground humor 'zine, and am presently a columnist for the national humor magazine,
Comic News, which is based in Eugene, Oregon, of all places.
I made my first short movie in 1983, and have been at it more or less ever since. Tough to pick a favorite movie, but four I love are
Duck Soup,
Victor/Victoria,
Rushmore, and
Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I'm currently in the film program at Scottsdale Community College.
Echo: So tell me about your award, and your screenplay.
Brennan: The screenplay is a comedy called
The People's Choice. In a nutshell: Jeb "Buck" McKern, Arizona's most popular folksy car dealer, decides to run for governor, and enlists Roy Marks, a disillusioned TV journalist, to run his campaign. "Entraps" is a better word, since McKern threatens to pull his ads from Roy's TV station unless the station manager fires him.
In a fit of cynicism, Roy decides he can get anybody elected — even McKern — by telling the people what they want to hear. So McKern campaigns around the state, talking out of both sides of his mouth, getting endorsements from numerous diametrically opposite interest groups. He becomes hugely popular. Roy begins to uncover some less-than-savory facts about McKern, though, and tries desperately to derail the campaign before the unthinkable — a McKern victory — happens. There's a romance of sorts, various political scandals and a hail of gunfire. It all ends with several twists and surprises. It's definitely a dark comedy, a bit more
Network than
Raising Arizona.
I should emphasize that although elements of the plot may sound familiar, it's entirely fictional. It's not about Mecham, Symington, or any of our other always-entertaining elected officials. Though I do thank them very much for the inspiration.
The Film Commission's "Film In Arizona" screenwriting competition has two awards. There's a Grand Prize, which tragically I didn't win, and then there's the Arizona Film Commission/Arizona Commission on the Arts fellowship, which goes to the top scoring finalist from Arizona. I was fortunate enough to win the Fellowship, which was $1,000. As one of the top five finalists in the overall competition, I also won screenwriting software, a very plush Arizona Film Commission bathrobe (in basic black), reference books, and six months' representation on writersscriptnetwork.com, which is a venue film producers can use to
find new material.
I also won a trip to Hollywood for an awards breakfast at the Mondrian hotel. They had a Tim Robbins lookalike at the front desk, whom I mistook for the real Tim Robbins. I figured maybe after
Antitrust he was doing a little moonlighting.
Marc Norman, who won the Oscar for
Shakespeare in Love, was the guest speaker, and he had a lot to say about the power of the movies to overcome tragedy and despair. After Mr. Norman spoke, they announced my award, and I was asked to give an impromptu "acceptance speech" in front of all these successful screenwriters and industry pros. Fortunately, they presented me with a giant novelty check, like the ones they give to lottery winners, so I was able to adlib some Vaudevillian zingers about needing a giant bank. The check saved my life; I'm having it framed.
Echo: How did you come to enter the screenplay? Did you write it specifically for the competition?
Brennan: I did write it specifically for this competition, though the idea had been brewing awhile. The competition had only one major requirement — that 85 percent of locations be in Arizona. I thought the campaign was the perfect device for that, so I sent my characters to every corner of the state.
I've written short films before, and directed a few, but this was my first feature-length screenplay.
Echo: The State Legislature unwisely decided to cut more out of the Arizona Film Commission than any other department or agency. How do you feel it will affect local filmmakers?
Brennan: The thing that's bad about it is that it significantly inhibits the ability of the Film Commission to bring Hollywood productions to Arizona. Those productions bring big bucks into the local economy and provide jobs for local film professionals. Other states give big budgets to their film commissions because their legislatures realize they're
getting back in revenue far more than they're putting out. When these Hollywood productions come to town, they hire local talent, they spend millions of dollars.
As far as local filmmakers who are making movies, the budget cut will obviously have a negative impact, a chilling effect, that's probably going to drive local talent out of state to somewhere they can make a living. And that's a loss for anyone who wants to see a thriving film community in Arizona.
Echo: As a gay person working in film, what kind of successes and challenges have you faced because of it?
Brennan: You hear stories about Hollywood being an old-boys club, and I so do not qualify for membership. It's complicated, because I'm transgendered, as well as being in a long-term relationship with a woman. So there are two issues there. I try to keep the focus on my work, but I don't have any interest in any sort of closet.
Although there's not really much GLBT content in "The People's Choice," my gender and my sexuality inform my work, shape my view of the world, make me who I am. Everything springs from that — my sense of humor, the way I use language, plot, dialogue. Those themes pop up often in my work, so it'll be interesting to see whether there's a place for it in Hollywood, and an audience out there that responds to it.
If I can be a commercially successful screenwriter/filmmaker, great. But I grew up relatively poor in the '70s and '80s, and have always been a believer in the sort of punk-rock "do it yourself" ethos. If the studios don't have any place for me, I'm still going to write, I'm still going to make movies, and hopefully find an audience for it.
Echo: What advice would you give people who want to follow in your footsteps and go into screenwriting?
Brennan: From a business standpoint, having never sold a screenplay, I can only pass along the advice I've been given by the pros I've talked to — as
far as selling your script to Hollywood, the most crucial thing is format. Industry people won't even look at your script if it's not properly formatted. There are several screenwriting softwares out there (e.g. Scriptware, Final Draft) that allow you to focus on storytelling. And there are excellent classes locally and regionally, to teach you the basics of structure and format.
As a writer, as a filmmaker, I think the most important thing is to find your own voice. You can probably still get rich rewriting
Die Hard or
Pretty Woman. But there's a fundamental shift going on in the film industry. With a DV camera, a $2,500 Macintosh computer and some software you can start your own movie studio, make your own movie, tell your own stories. It's past time for some new voices to be heard. I hope mine can be one of them.
Copyright © 2002 Echo Magazine. Reprinted Without Permission Of Any Kind--but with M.C.'s thanks!
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